What I Learned From Dallas Mavericks Owner & ‘Shark’ Mark Cuban

It was so wonderful to speak with Mark Cuban during our fireside chat last week at Zoomtopia 2020! There is always something to learn from Mark and his decades-long career as a successful entrepreneur and thought leader. It was an honor to have him join us at Zoomtopia 2020 and to compete against him in a virtual pickup game - even though I was defeated! 

Our conversation covered a wide range of topics, including loyalty in business, the future of cinema, and getting fired. Here are some of the inspiring highlights from our discussion:

Loyalty is a two-way street

Mark has developed a reputation as a loyal leader throughout his career, and he shared the loyalty lessons he’s learned as the owner of the Dallas Mavericks. 

“For a company to be successful, you need to listen to your employees, you need to be authentic with them, to understand what’s important to them. In a business, you have employees that will do everything they can to be successful and to make your organization successful, and you want to reward that loyalty with loyalty. It’s a two-way street. We saw that with Dirk [Nowitzki], who spent his entire career with us at the Mavericks. He gave us his heart and soul, and so we gave ours right back to him.”

Humble beginnings

Mark has led an exceptional life and accomplished so much during his career, but he had humble beginnings. “I opened a bar on campus my senior year of college, which did really well until the police shut it down because I let in all my underaged friends,” Mark said. “I was also fired from my first sales job at a PC company - I went to pick up a check for the business, and my commission, instead of opening the retail store. My boss fired me immediately!”  

Mark also shared how that experience led to his first steps as a successful entrepreneur and business leader: “After that, I started a company called Micro Solutions, which became one of the largest systems integrators in the country,” Mark said. “We made all of our employees stakeholders in the company and they all did very well - throughout the history of the company, we only had one employee leave, and they ended up coming back just a few months later.” 

The importance of supporting employees

Mark also shared his views on the importance of supporting the emotional and mental health needs of his employees, which has been especially important during these difficult times. 

“It’s an issue that we’re more and more cognizant of as time goes on. There are so many effects from a mental health issue, and people are dealing with a lot right now with the pandemic and home schooling and other stresses. We need to ensure that employees have the resources they need to feel confident in coming to work and put programs in place for employees to help them address the issues they are facing.”   

Preparing for the future of work

Mark emphasized that the workplaces of the future will be defined by employee freedom and autonomy. “The beautiful thing about Zoom is that I can Zoom however I want, wherever I want, whenever I want,” Mark said, “and we need to start thinking about our employees the same way to ensure their future success.” By giving them the freedom to work when, where, and how they want, “we can find the best ways to make them more productive,” Mark said. 

‘How great companies are made’

Mark also spoke about the unique times that we are in, and what companies need to do to ensure they can survive whatever life throws at them. “You have to be agile and you have to be resilient. This pandemic has been horrific, and we’ll get to the other side of this thing, but there will be other business-disrupting events that you have to be ready for. You have to listen to your employees and be authentic. We all get scared, but you have to be honest with your employees or you’ll lose their trust. That’s how lasting brands are built and great companies are made.”

The evolution of cinema

Mark has plenty of experience within the film industry as an executive producer of films like “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room”, the first to implement “day-and-date” movie releases, and a seasoned investor in production companies and streaming services. He shared his vision of how cinema may change in a post-pandemic future and how he believes the theater industry will take shape as technology advances.  

“It all comes down to is what content you can digitize and transmit, just like Zoom, and I think digital presentation of content will follow the same path,” Mark said. “There will still be theaters around because people like to get out and go to the theater; it’s a fun experience, especially with everyone in the theater clapping and enjoying the experience together. But I think there will probably be half as many screens as there are now, and I think those theaters will be bought by production studios so that it can be a vertically integrated presentation and there’s no inhibitors on how the content is shown.”

Maintaining his energy

Mark Cuban is a busy guy: he owns a professional basketball team, regularly appears on “Shark Tank,” and manages a wide range of business investments. He was kind enough to share the philosophy he learned from his father for maintaining his energy and living a fulfilling life:

“The greatest gift that we get is time, and that gives me a lot of energy because I don’t want to lose it. You can’t buy time, and you can’t ever get enough of it. My father would always tell me, ‘Today’s the youngest you’ll ever be, so live like it.’ And many people don’t live that way.”

Watch the recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYdvG9R_4Dg&t=229s